All dressed up and somewhere to go.

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I've been busy  getting ready to go to the Leeds Steampunk Market  where I will have a stall on Sunday 7 October. 

 


 There will be new space scouts, treasures and trinkets. My small friends will be coming with me to enjoy the event. 

And getting into the spirit of the occasion I have made a special costume which will be revealed at the fair tomorrow.

An old Underwood typewriter

 

Some time ago I acquired a battered old Underwood typewriter intending to disassemble it for parts to add to my steampunk creations. 

  

  

After knocking off a lot of "dust" and generally tidying it up a bit , it looked as if it could be made to work. Lots of patient fiddling, cleaning, application of oil and a new ribbon later, I had a working typewriter. 

 

Now, I am a fan of  Archy and Mehitabel, and there was just one thing missing, and this weekend a cockroach turned up and started to try out the Underwood.

 

 I'll commission him to make all my exhibition labels.     

Out of the kiln.

 

An exciting day at Hive yesterday - all the test tiles have had their glaze firing and I'm delighted with the results especially the stoneware ones, very rugged and space battered.  

 

So now I am wondering what kind of vessel they came from, what perils and hazards had it survived and why had it come here?

 

 

There were a few sprigs left over from the tile making - they'll make splendid brooches.

Yet more test tiles

 










  
Still making test tiles. I like the slowness of the process, especially over the summer when the studio is quiet and it takes longer for the kiln to be filled and fired. It gives me more thinking time. 

Using a lot of processes adds to the waiting time before I get to see a finished tile, These test tiles have been textured, sprigged, slipped oxided and glazed (try saying that quickly). After glaze firing I may add lustre and more colour before a last firing. And possibly a final addition of found object embellishments as well.   

Here I'm trying something new for me - velvet underglaze painted, sponged and printed straight on to unfired clay. The fired colours should be even brighter under a transparent glaze. 

Test tiles, why I make so many.

 

I've been making test tiles with layers of slips brushed, printed and sponged with combinations of texture and pattern. I always start with test tiles experimenting with different processes and combinations of materials. Here are some I did last year before making the space rovers.

When I went to look for them I found some old stoneware volcanic glaze tests, which have started to give me ideas .. ... ... ...